Culinary article.



J. R. BENTLEY.

CULINARY ARTICLE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 9, 1912.

Patented July 1, 1913.

8 wuamto'a J.R.Beniley,

QX vmeoqeo KM Q76 mm.

JOHN RE-ED BENTLEY, or NASI-IUA, IOWA.

CULINARY ARTICLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1, 1913.

Application filed March 9, 1912. Serial No. 682,688.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN REED BENTLEY, acitizen of the United States, residing at Nashua, in the county ofChickasaw and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Culinary Articles, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

This invention comprehend's certain new and useful improvements inkitchen utensils or culinary articles, and relates particularly to animproved attachment for forks, spoons, ladles or the like, whereby theymay be easily stripped of the meat or other food engaged thereby.

The invention has for its primary object a simple, durable andefficientconstruction of spring retracted attachment for forks orsimilar culinary articles, the parts of which may be cheaplymanufactured and readily assembled and which may be operated by thethumb or finger of the same hand that grasps the handle of the fork orthe like to actuate the stripping device, the same being automaticallyreturned to its initial position after the manual actuation. And theinvention also aims to generally improve this class of devices and torender them more useful and commercially desirable.

With these and other objects in view as will more fully appear as thedescription proceeds the invention consists in certain constructions,combinations and arrangements of parts that I shall hereinafter fullydescribe and claim.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is to be had to thefollowing description and accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is atop plan view of my improved culinary article. Fig. 2 is a side viewthereof, and Fig. 8 is a detail per-- spective View of a part of thestripping device.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and desig nated in the accompanying drawings by likereference characters.

In the accompanying drawings my liiVQl1- tion is shown as applied to afork, although it is to be understood that this is done for the purposeof illustration only and that the invention is not limited to this use.The fork 1 is in the present instance composed of three longitudinallyextending Wires 2 lying close one alongside of the other to form theshank of the fork and separated near one end and extended fo-rwardiyparallel to each other to form the tines 3. A collar 4 encircles thewires 2 at one end of the shank, so as to assist in holding the partstogether, although it is to be understood that solder or the like isused to secure the parts in proper position relative to each other. Atthe opposite end of the shank a corresponding collar 5 is provided. Two

of the wires, namely, the outside wires are preferably continued pastthe collar 5 and are bowed and returned upon themselves to form a handle6, said wires being preferably integrally connected together by a curvedcross bar 7 which lies upon the three wires 2 at the main portionthereof intermediate the ends of the shank which provides a space 8between the cross bar and the intermediate wire which constitutes asocket for one end of a retracting spring 9. The spring 9 is coiled oneor more times as indicated at 10 and has its other end extendedunderneath the cross bar 11 which is secured toa thumb piece 12 which ishingedly connected at one end to a transversely eX- tending pin 13secured to the opposite wires of the handle 6. The relatively free endof the thumb piece 12 is laterally reduced as at 14 and is formed withan aperture 15 in which is pivotally connected a link 16, said linkconsisting of two wires that are turned outwardly at their forwardextremities and pivotally connected as at 17 to a stripper plate 18. Theplate 18 is formed with three apertures by which it is mounted for movement on the tines 3 and is preferably pro vided with a band 19 crimpedaround the tines and secured to the plate 18 so as to coact therewith instripping the tines.

From the foregoing description in connection with the accompanyingdrawings, the operation of my improved fork or simi lar culinary articlewill be apparent.

In the practical use of the device after the tines of the fork have beenengaged in the meat, for instance, and it is desired to strip the tinesthereof, it is only necessary for the operator to press his .or herthumb upon the thumb piece, whereupon the stripping piece will be movedoutwardly and the tines stripped of the food. By merely releasing thethumb piece, the spring will return the parts to their initial or normalposition.

While the accompanying drawings illustrate what I believe to be thepreferred form of my invention, it is to be understood that theinvention is not limited thereto but that various changes may be made inthe constructions, arrangements and proportions of the parts withoutdeparting from the scope of the invention as defined in the appendedclaim.

Having thus described my invention I claim:

The combination with a fork of the character described, of a shankprovided with a handle, the handle being formed with a cross barextending across the shank proper and formed with a socket, atransversely extending pin carried by the handle adjacent the cross barthereof, a thumb piece pivotally mounted at one end on said pin, saidspring having its ends detachably connected to the thumb piece andwithin said socket,

outwardly and forwardly, and the extremities of said wire being offsetin opposite directions and adapted for pivotal engagement with theopposed sockets in the stripper, substantially as and for the purposeset forth.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature in the presence oftwo Witnesses.

JOHN REED BENTLEY.

lVitnesses:

ARTHUR F. STUELKE, SADIE B. VVAITE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

